Metal's Softer Side
by Vyraz
Summary: When conflict between Demacia and the Shadow Isles takes an interesting turn, Sona, the maven of strings is forced to take refuge at the feared master of metal's house, Mordekaiser. She is supposed to be a hostage, but is that how everything pans out? Or does something develop between the mismatched duo?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: First thing's first: why are there so few FanFics on this paring? Baffling if you ask me, because it's obviously the best one. I will admit I did get the inspiration for writing this from "The Steel Revolution" (if you haven't read it yet, I recommend you go and do so), but hopefully the two stories differentiate from each other well enough. **

**I hope that it isn't too long winded (I think it breaks 7,500 or something). I just wanted everything to fit, but didn't want to rush anything either. **

**Let me know if you enjoyed, or if you have any critism/suggestions to add!**

**P.S I am still working on my other fic too, I'll rotate between the two**

_Fear is confusion, pain is clarity. _

It was a motto of sorts. Not one that you would live your life by, exactly, but one that a certain metallic monster held very close to his heart. Or rather, where his heart would be, if he actually had one. No one dared ask. He wasn't the sort of person you chose to talk to.

_I like my weapons how I like my music; heavy and metal._

Though that was how the master of metal preferred his weaponry, it wasn't specifically what he needed. Anything able to inflict pain to a large degree would do. It just so happened that the spiked mace, his favourite creator of anguish, was indeed both heavy and metal. A happy coincidence, one might think, though those on the receiving end of the oversized morning star would surely disagree.

There was a time when this bloodthirsty individual would be able to satisfy his cravings for violence a lot more often. Not too long ago, champions who had 'similar' strength (of course, none of them coming close to the armoured fiend's) would battle it out for political reasons, a source of entertainment, and very much anything that happened to tickle their fancy. These matches, commonly held in an area known as Summoner's Rift, had used to have a more recreational atmosphere.

Until a certain champion had been invited to join in on the fun.

And this champion seemed to have had too much fun. It was because of his practically dominating and excruciating presence that slowly, one by one, opponents had begun to drop out of their matches. This pattern repeated as the master of metal only grew amused by this cowardice, until eventually there wasn't a single person that would be willing to battle either alongside or against him, and so the fights had been cancelled. The entire system had been brought down by one man.

And this man went by the name of Mordekaiser.

Mordekaiser had been a champion from the Shadow Isles. A place that for all the wonders and mysteries it held had surprisingly not been mapped out all too well. Namely because anyone ignorant enough to travel there looking for an exploration wouldn't have the intelligence to figure out how to escape with their life. The inhabitants were not exactly the friendly type, to make matters worse.

As such, the Shadow Isles remained untouched other than by its own denizens. Foreigners liked to speculate and spread about rumours as to what horrors might be contained in such a ghastly place. Monsters? Riches? Natural phenomenons? Whatever was beyond those murky forests and bottomless lakes, it was kept a sound secret. But as well as the place itself, there were also faint stories here and there of what some of their inhabitants could do, and had done.

One of those such people did happen to be Mordekaiser. Though not directly passed onto him, he had come across the idea from others that he instantaneously spread death wherever he walked, plant and animal alike losing their lives should they step too close. All lies, of course. No one could have such a power, yet if there were one person to inherit such an ability, it would most likely be the steel clad knight.

And so, you would think that someone with such an unmatchable history, such incredible tales continuously passed through generations upon generations, would be out in the world. Tearing down monarchies, executing entire nations, something of the like. So maybe it would surprise you, as it would surprise him just as much, that the Lord of the Shadow Isles was doing nothing other than flicking TV channels. If you ignored the fact that he wore thick, stainless armour covering the entirety of his body, and that he had two glaring, crimson triangle-shaped slits for eyes, he might just be your everyday couch potato. Finding programs that maybe would've interested him on a different day, but right now didn't concern him.

Sighing with disappointment, the steel giant slumped his helmet to rest on a fist, taking a bite out of the poorly made sandwich he had prepared himself. There was meat inside and, instead of bread; Mordekaiser had chosen to add more meat. You might have guessed that he was not a vegetarian.

"This. Is. So. Boring." He groaned, shifting uncomfortably on the sofa that was big enough to hold three reasonably sized people, or one Mordekaiser. Sure, he could go out and kill something, but after the millionth time, taking life seemed to lose some of its initial adrenaline. Couldn't he rely on anything even remotely exciting to happen once in a while?

The ring of the phone mildly startled him. It was curios that the simple ringing of a phone could startle the warlord more than any ghost or monster could have done so, but maybe that was because a phone call was the rarer of the two appearing in his life. And as such, it meant that he wasn't one hundred percent sure of how to operate the thing. It took a few seconds for his massive fingers to reach the correct button and turn off the infernal sound. Its bleeping sounded far too happy for his liking.

"Who is this and what the hell do you want?" Mordekaiser growled dangerously into the phone, pent up anger causing his grip to almost crush the poor thing.

"Is this the introduction I can be expecting every time? You don't seem to have changed very much." The Ruined King was someone who perhaps rivalled Mordekaiser in his negative reputation and power, though at least those who worked close to him knew of the lighter, more understanding side he had. On the other hand, Mordekaiser did not possess such a hidden personality trait. He had two settings; mean and murderous.

"Oh, it's you." He said bluntly. "Got another errand you want me to fulfil? I'd say that were beneath you, but experience has told me otherwise." Though he couldn't tell whether it was his helmet restricting some of his hearing, or if it actually happened, the master of metal thought he caught a deep sigh on the other end. From being such a high authority figure, The King wasn't used to receiving such a hostile tone of voice in a conversation. Then again, if you were related to Mordekaiser, some small part of your brain would have to get used to it in order to survive.

"Well before all of that, I'd just like to ask; how are you doing? You're one of my star pupils, yet I don't hear from you often. Or ever, so to speak." Mordekaiser chuckled in response, though he didn't sound all too amused.

"You of all people I thought understood my dislike for idle chatter. Which moves me onto this conversation." He huffed. "Do you need something or not?"

"As it happens, I could do with you performing a little favour for me."

"What a surprise. Maybe I should go ahead and put on the X Files theme song for this one." The King contemplated whether it was actually going through all the knight's insults and complaints to get what he wanted out of him. It was. _Barely_.

"I assume you are aware of the current conflict going on between Demacia and The Shadow Isles, correct?"

"I am aware of how you specifically banned me from using violent means to help our cause." He grumbled, despite knowing it wouldn't get him out of whatever The King had planned for him.

"That being so", he continued on, "there is a certain hostage that I would like you to-"

"Torture? Murder?" Mordekaiser's eyes lit up like fireworks as he eagerly awaited the response he wanted. What he got was an entirely different matter.

"Take care of." The Ruined King finished. "That means no killing, no suffering, none of those. I'll expect you to take good care of her." _Her? Did that mean a girl? _The master of metal thought to himself. How did one deal with that species exactly? What did one eat, if it ate at all? He had no experience of looking after such a creature, making his situation all the more dire to get out of.

"Are there not better people you could assign this task to?" He groaned, much like a pouting child. "You know I'm bad at… Not killing things."

"I am aware of that." The King replied, trying to stifle a grin for fear of Mordekaiser catching onto his amusement. That would not end prettily. "But this hostage has a certain sort of charm to her, which men other than you might fawn over. In order to assure nothing happens, it must be you to carry out this task." He paused a little before asking, "You don't have any of those interests, right?" From the master of metal's obnoxiously loud scoff, he could rest assured that Mordekaiser did not have any ulterior motives. He was more concerned about the girl's safety with such an unpredictable Shadow Isles citizen.

"Why are we treating this hostage so nicely? Does she have something we need?"

"Not necessarily, but we need to keep her as a bargaining chip, and she'd suit that purpose better if she didn't have your mace stuck in the middle of her throat. Do you not agree?"

"Pfft. I still think destroying Demacia would be a whole lot easier." The King rolled his eyes, wondering why it was someone like Mordekaiser was even allowed to have so much power. Then again, he'd been the one to give him clout, so there was no one else to blame.

"So I can trust you with this, I presume?" There was a short period of silence.

"Mordekaiser?" Had it been anyone else in the world, Mordekaiser would have gone out and paid them a personal and _painful_ visit. But this was The Ruined King here, one of the very few people he held respect for (even if he didn't show it verbally), and as such, he didn't want to get on his bad side.

"Fine!" He whined, stamping an iron foot on the similarly iron floor in frustration. He accidentally put a little too much strength into his legs, denting the floor out of shape with a hardened boot.

"Oh, and I feel I should mention that the name of this person is-" But Mordekaiser had already discarded the phone, ending the conversation. Well, discarded might have been the wrong word. Utterly destroyed would better describe his actions. The iron lord did not need another distraction right now.

X

Having a reason to keep the time for once, Mordekaiser checked the steel clock for the third time that day (of course, everything was made of metal in his place). Not being one for squinting to check how far to the left a miniscule hour hand was, he'd decided on a digital one, currently reading 05:54 pm in square-like numbers. The monster of a man paced around frantically, an ever so slight feeling of nervousness slithering up and into his thoughts like a snake.

There were mere minutes until he would be forced to interact with this… hostage-girl, whoever she was. Even knowing nothing about her, his opinion of said person had already deteriorated due to the face she was Demacian. The land of the ignorant, the goody two shoes, and the all-around idiotic that seemed to enjoy poking their noses into business that wasn't theirs to poke into.

This was one such occasion. The steel knight had asked for something _exciting_, not troublesome. Could he avoid hurting this girl? Mordekaiser knew… Vaguely knew, how to act _nicely_. The trouble was, regardless of what he wanted to say, his inner thoughts was always make themselves known instead. If he actually cared about what others thought, this may have been a potential problem.

Making some final adjustments, the iron man walked over to the mirror (you'll never guess what it was made of) to check his appearance was in check. Eyes glaring, armour shining, cape flowing… The definition of awesome. Sometimes Mordekaiser felt bad for other people, having to live every day knowing they would never be as cool as him.

The door knocked. They must have been a familiar face, because they knew to only knock once. Some slight comfort to his situation. Mordekaiser was about to open the thing, when he heard some quiet voices behind the door. Not being one to respect privacy, or anything else, the master of metal listened in to the words being said.

"Why are we giving her to him, of all people?" He heard one voice, presumably male say from the other end. "It's just a waste of such a girl; he'll never do anything with her anyways."

"What's Mordekaiser's deal anyway? Is it guys? Girls? Sock Puppets?" The other voice was a higher pitch, and had a slightly tinny quality to it. Probably female.

"I don't think he even has a deal. Can we just get this over with? He kind of creeps me out."

"And he's so tall, too! I thought there were just a tower of yordles in that suit of armour, not just one guy!"

"Hey, shut up! I don't know about you, but I don't plan on being top of his lunch menu if he overhears us…"

"Uhh, he doesn't really eat people, right?"

Feeling as though he had wasted enough time eavesdropping on the most boring conversation he'd ever witnessed, the armoured fiend stomped over to the door, opening it with a powerful swing that barely left the hinges intact.

Standing before him were three figures. The first two were the escorts who stood on either side, sporting an outfit similar to Mordekaiser's, albeit in a less bulky size (Presumably the ones who had been conversing earlier). It was the girl that interested him, though. Blue, extravagant hair streamed down from her head like a waterfall, a pair of equally sized pigtails both to her left and right, tied by golden hairpins. Her dress stretched down to her feet, but some strange aura surrounding her kept the tips from touching the dusty ground, and instead flew about despite the lack of wind. She also carried – well, it rather floated around aimlessly like the rest of her rather than being carried – some sort of… What exactly was that thing? It looked like an oddly shaped log with some strings struck across its length. Maybe it was a weapon? It _did_ look like it was good for bludgeoning things to death with.

"Umm, Lord Mordekaiser." The female and shorter of the two guards spoke up, shifting feet nervously under an unwavering glare. "W-We brought her for you to… Umm…" As Mordekaiser continued to glare in her direction, the guard quickly shuffled behind the taller of the two, who was now on the receiving end of the tyrant's stare.

"What do you expect me to do!?" He hissed, trying to resist the violent tugs the girl made on his armour.

"Something… Anything!" She whimpered, shrinking as far away from view as her body would let her. The guard considered his two options. A: Run. B: Don't run. He found the first to be the more useful of the two.

Mordekaiser was now staring off at the so called 'warriors' more in bewilderment than anything else as they ran, head over heels in cowardice. If the kind of people they sent to fight showed signs of weakness at him simply _looking_ at them, it was just as well that the Shadow Isles chose not to fight after all. He scratched the back of his helmet, wondering when his army had become so wimpy.

He then turned his attention back to the apparent hostage, who thankfully hadn't broken into a sprint like the others. Strangely, she just looked into his eyes, hands flat by her side and posture perfect. It almost unnerved him, the way that this girl seemed to be completely oblivious to his presence. Being the social star that he was, Mordekaiser decided to break the ice.

"You." The girl jumped slightly on the spot, her previous surrounding aura of tranquillity gone. She still kept eye contact with the knight, albeit eyes slightly wider than before from the shock of being woken from her trance.

"Do you have a name?" She stood slightly stunned, not registering the question until a few seconds had passed by. When she recognised the monster of a man was talking to her, she breathed deep, and did her best to pull a smile before replying "My name is Sona."

Sona looked up at the hulking figure before her, who seemed to be concentrating on something. Maybe he hadn't heard her? Just as she was about to introduce herself once more, Sona was interrupted.

"Your lips didn't move as you talked." Mordekaiser remarked. Ah, now she understood the problem. It had been so long since the maven had actually met new people, she forgot not everyone knew of her communication methods.

"Oh, w-well you see, uhh…" Sona paused, looking up from the ground to give her new acquaintance a pleading look. She almost started to frown when he didn't seem to understand what she wanted.

"Lord Mordekaiser." He added helpfully.

"So you see, uhh, Lord Mordekaiser…" The maven continued, brushing a loose strand of hair out of the way as a nervous habit, "I am not able to talk to people by normal means, s-so I use my etwahl here instead." Having forgotten about the instrument before, the iron lord now picked up on how she had been constantly plucking strings when she had talked. And to think, Mordekaiser had assumed she was just a very talented ventriloquist.

"It isn't too convenient, but… It is better than not being able t-to talk at all." Sona did her best to smile once more, but stopped when the master of metal grunted in irritation. She didn't know why, but the maven observed that Mordekaiser always seemed to glare at everything. Or was that just the way his helmet portrayed his eyes?

Whilst Sona was busy asking herself questions without answers, Mordekaiser's whole body twitched with irritation. He felt like he should be saying something, but it was impossible to think with the girl staring at him like that. Apparently she wasn't too hot on social skills either, for she twirled a pigtail in her hand and averted the gaze when Mordekaiser looked her way. _As it should be_, the giant reminded himself. He'd almost forgotten that he was a ruler of millions of the undead, a murderer of thousands and record holding champion. He did not need to prove himself to a girl who'd managed to go and get herself captured, and he certainly didn't need to feel symptoms of social anxiety.

Turning around a full one-eighty degrees, Mordekaiser gave a flick of the wrist to the girl, before proceeding to walk back inside. He inwardly winced when he heard no footsteps following him.

"Are you going to come inside", he started, cocking his head to the left as he turned around, "Or would you rather sleep out in the cold?" Hurriedly shaking her head, Sona dashed after him, careful to shut the door behind her. Well, she tried to, but since it was made of dense metal (as were most things in the warlord's home), it only squeaked, moving about an inch before becoming stuck. Mordekaiser shook his head, walking over with large strides to shut the door with no effort whatsoever. He gave Sona an odd look, who only smiled meekly and plucked a few strings.

"S-Sorry, Lord Mordekaiser."

"I'd be sorry if I were that weak, too."

X

It was big. That was the first thought Sona came up with when he entered the house. Or rather, mansion might have been more relevant considering the size of the thing. And there was metal. The walls, tables and doors alike were all made of the same stainless steel, which seemed immaculately polished from the way the maven could see her own reflection everywhere. She was thankful that all the halls were wide enough to fit someone of Mordekaiser's stature, for this meant she could also carry her etwahl around without any hassle.

As they walked further and further (Sona slowly lagging behind from her lack of long legs), curiosity began to overtake her initial fear of the iron giant. _I wonder how he can afford all of this_, she thought to herself silently. What sort of thing did an eight foot knight do for a living? Quickening her pace a little, Sona stared after Mordekaiser, watching his tattered cape sway to and fro with each step. If she thought back far enough, she could remember Sir Garen telling her about the Shadow Isles.

_ "And you say this one is Noxus?" Sona pointed to a section of the peat-brown, tattered map. Garen, who had decided not to change out of his battle get up, nodded in satisfaction._

_"__Indeed it is." Sona smiled, trying to consider what the land would really look like past a small, green-coloured two dimensional polygon. Would it have been industrial, or more of a bucolic area? Who knew what wonders lay beyond Demacia._

_"__I am glad that I got you to teach me more of this history, Sir Garen. It is very interesting to see more of the world outside of our teeny spec on this map."_

_"__I am glad you are enjoying it, Lady Sona." Sona stifled a giggle._

_"__There is no need to remain so formal with me, Sir Garen. After all, I am not part of any higher class, like you." The Demacian knight looked the maven in the eyes, opening his mouth to form a sentence, only for no words to come out. Instead, his cheeks flushed ever so slightly, a pale tinge of pink contrasting his golden tan. _

_"__Oh but, Sir Garen! I don't understand, why have we not talked about this area? Does it not share a heritage, just like all the others?" Garen looked up from his stupor to find where Sona was pointing at, and at that moment his face reflected a darker tone than what the maven had been used to._

_"__That", he spoke softly, "Is a group of islands known as The Shadow Isles."_

_"__And what kinds of people live there?"_

_"__The sort of people that you wouldn't like to be around." Sona frowned. At least within Demacia, she had been able to build up positive reputations with everyone, both good and supposedly bad characters._

_"__Why is that? Perhaps is it because they do not agree with our Demacian ideals?" _

_"__I'm not sure they agree with anything." Garen replied coldly. "It is their 'tradition' to remove any problems by force. Extract secrets with torture, and achieve their goals with dishonesty. Should you go there, I would… I would fear for your safety." He admitted sheepishly._

_"__Sir Garen… Surely, they cannot all be bad? There are good and bad sides to us all, I believe."_

_"__Perhaps some of them can be persuaded. But there is one such person that I could not say your peaceful personality and aura would guarantee your well-being with." Sona didn't say anything, but she continued to gawk at the knight's storytelling, which pressed him to go on._

_"__There is one person, one person in particular that I have come across in my travels before, that stirs fear in my heart even now."_

_"__There is someone who can scare someone as brave as you?" Sona despite talking with her etwahl, dared not to play it more than above a whisper._

_"__There is. I do not recall his name exactly, but I do know that he is The Lord of the Shadow Isles. His powers almost appeared to be beyond what any human should have been capable of. I am ashamed to say that compared to him, I… I almost felt like some sort of _insect_."_

_"__Sir Garen…" The maven considered putting a comforting hand on her friend, before he laughed strangely out loud, confusion Sona greatly._

_"__But I am sure that someone with your common sense would never end up venturing to such a place, so there is no need to worry. Since not many have come back alive from the place, I'm afraid there's not much I can teach you." Sona smiled; glad to have the knight back to his old, cheery self._

_"__That's quite alright, Sir Garen. I feel like I have plenty to fill my plate with." _

And look where she was now. The maven had managed to end up in the one place Sir Garen had told her never to go. Sona wondered what he and her other friends would think, should they know her whereabouts. Though they had tried to hide it, Sona sort of knew they'd always thought of her as a little weak minded. It didn't help that she was scared of spiders, the dark, and a variety of other things.

But so far, nothing about The Shadow Isles seemed to scare her. Maybe the environments were a little gloomy, and maybe its citizens were a little rude, but it seemed nothing like as bad as Sir Garen had described. Maybe he had come in on a bad day? On top of all the other questions, Sona wondered whether she would ever run into this lord that Sir Garen had spoken so sourly of. It was possible that she'd already seen this person, but just hadn't recognised the face. She decided she would ask Lord Mordekaiser if he knew of this being, and whether they could keep a wary distance from each other.

_Wait…_

_Wait a minute…_

_Lord Mordekaiser._

**_Lord _**_Mordekaiser._

She almost forgot how to walk. How could Sona have been so _stupid_? Her friends were right. Her completely carefree nature had made the maven walk literally right into her own demise without a second thought. She had been told she was only to be kept as a peace offering, but what if that had all been a lie? It was very probable, considering what Sir Garen had told her about the Isles inhabitants. But then if she ran now, she would be risking putting the whole of Demacia in danger, simply for her own miscarriage. Yet she couldn't very well stay here, in the hands of someone who might take her own head should she say the wrong-

"**_Sona!_**" The booming voice made the maven literally jump a few feet into the air, knocking her etwahl a few feet forward, into a towering Mordekaiser. He didn't even seem to register the impact. Sona visibly gulped, awaiting whatever torturous treatment she would be suffering through. Whatever it was, Sona would have to accept it for the good of Demacia.

"This is your room."

"…!?" Sona shook her head out of her own nightmares to find Mordekaiser pointing at a tall metal door, more than big enough for both her and her etwahl. He still looked like his crimson eyes were glaring down, and he was still very, _very _scary, but Sona felt ever so slightly at peace. Other than a small bit of hearsay, she had no reason to be fearful of this man. Wasn't her motto always to try and see the best in other people when others could not?

"If you have any problems", He rumbled, snapping Sona out of her thoughts again, "You come and tell me. I will do my best to deal with them. Is that understood?" Mordekaiser inwardly cringed, desperately wanting to punch the wall right now. He would _deal with her problems_? What was he, a babysitter? Clearly, he had let his anxiety of people get the best of him in this situation. He would need to rectify this little misunderstanding in their relationship as soon as the opportunity presented itself. His house, his rules. That was more or less how he remembered social convention going. Sona nodded vigorously and the steel knight found himself worn out already. This was more than enough interaction for one day.

Mordekaiser was about to go and get some well-deserved rest, until he heard the growling of a stomach. Looking down at his own and realising it wasn't the source of the noise, he turned to the Demacian girl. She currently held one hand on belly, one hand on cheek, looking especially uncomfortable. _Ah, that would be the problem._ Mordekaiser sighed, and then paced his way to another room. He looked back to find that Sona was still rooted to the spot, and so he glared at her. The maven bolted a little, playing her etwahl in a hurried fashion.

"Did you want me to…?" When he nodded, Sona began walking tentatively, still careful to leave a few paces between them in case he tried something funny.

The fridge, like everything else, was unusually large. Though there was something even more unusual than that, and even more unusual than the untouched fruit bowl that for some reason was kept in the fridge. Simple logic dictated that The Lord of the Shadow Isles did not get his 5-a-day.

It was full of meat. There literally wasn't anything else in the fridge besides the fruit bowl. Sona scanned its contents, intent on finding something remotely healthy.

No such luck.

"So, do you want meat, or more meat?" Mordekaiser asked her. Sona would have laughed had she not found his request to be serious, and had she not still felt him glaring at her through his helmet. Maybe that was the way he looked at people, but he did not want to anger him regardless.

"Do you not have anything else? Perhaps, some vegetables?" The knight snorted, muttering something about "those poison green things".

"Does this mean that", Mordekaiser exhaled, rubbing his helmet with a free hand, "That there is more than meat to the Demacian diet?" Sona wasn't sure if what Mordekaiser ate could be called a 'diet' of sorts, but she nodded politely.

"And does this mean that we have to go _outside_ to get some more food?" Sona paused, thinking of how to best choose her words.

"If it is not too much trouble, Lord Mordekaiser…" The armoured giant looked at her, and then groaned. He hated the outdoors.

X

The journey itself had taken around half an hour. Not because the supermarket was that far away, but because Mordekaiser had _insisted _that he knew where he was going, when really he was just following instinct. After passing the same spot for the fourth time, Sona eventually had the idea of asking for directions. It was strange to note that, despite being able to communicate a lot better than herself, Mordekaiser insisted she should do the talking. Maybe he was shy? Or perhaps he just thought Sona would be able to ask more nicely?

Fortunately, the place wasn't so busy. Then again, who really did their food shopping this late in the evening? The maven heard Mordekaiser mumble some complaints about the design, something to do with there not being enough metal in the interior.

"Sona." The maven whizzed round, her hair flopping across her face as she looked up at The Shadow Isles Lord. "Hurry up. I do not want to stay in this place for any longer than I have to. Do you know what it is you want?" Sona nodded half-heartedly; she didn't really have a clue what she wanted to eat, or even how to cook anything, but something told her that Mordekaiser would only become more annoyed should the maven say no. And for her own safety, she did not want to annoy him.

Picking up a nearby basket (Sona assumed that her companion would find it degrading to carry things around), she floated in any which direction, looking for the first thing that would accompany the mountain of meat Mordekaiser owned. She secretly wondered whether he would be open to eating any of her non protein food, and if so, how much she should buy.

Mordekaiser scrunched up his face in discuss at some of the 'food' being offered. Of all the horribly bright colours, he only recognised a few items. There was solidified ketchup, which seemed to be kept in a spherical shape, tiny trees coloured both white and green for some reason, and those smelly green things that people seemed to eat around Christmas. Not that he celebrated Christmas with anyone else, he just happened to hear of some of the more human traditions.

Just as they were about be able to escape with Sona finally satisfied, both the maven and knight's heads turned as a child's wailing could be heard from one corner. Both the pair's instincts acted at once. Mordekaiser being Mordekaiser, completely ignored the sound and carried on walking, as it was none of his business. Sona however, moved towards the sound, looking to qualm whatever problem there was. Exhaling deeply and counting to three after he found the maven had gone missing, the master of metal stomped after her, patience hanging by no more than a thread.

"That girl is more trouble than she's worth…" He growled, finding her not too far away and accompanying a small child. She couldn't have been more than ten years old, and with all that wailing she certainly didn't act like it. Everything was purple. Her hair, backpack, clothes and cat ears were all the same colour, though she sported a pair of emerald green eyes too, currently clouded by tears.

Sona bent down to the child's level, causing the master of metal's eyebrow to rise. What did she plan on doing?

"Why are you crying?" She cooed, patting the girl's head with one hand and playing her etwahl with the other. The child stuttered for a while, unable to form a sentence properly.

"M-My bear… my bear Tibbers, someone took him away from me!" She wailed, Mordekaiser inwardly flinched from the high pitch this girl seemed to reach.

"Who did?"

"I don't know." She whispered. "But I need him! Without Tibbers, I… I need him!" She repeated, and Sona nodded in understanding. She patted the girl on the head again, before turning to Mordekaiser.

"…What?" Sona cleared her throat silently, not daring to look at the knight for the question she was about to ask.

"Do you think you could…?"

"No."

"But Mordekaiser-"

"A girl lost her bear, who cares! This is clearly no problem of ours, and I don't intend to make it one." Mordekaiser practically seethed at the maven, who strangely did not seem to be nearly as afraid of him as before. She ended up returning the glare, and sat down firmly with arms and legs both crossed.

"Then I'm not leaving."

"I'm sorry." Mordekaiser breathed, his voice dangerously low as he stalked towards the two terrified girls. "I think I must have heard you wrong. You're not the one who makes demands here." Whilst the purple girl hid her shivering frame behind the also trembling Sona, the maven stood her ground. It just wasn't in her nature to deny someone help, and despite how utterly terrifying Mordekaiser looked standing well above her crouching height, she refused to give in.

"I-I-I said, I'm n-not leaving." Her instrument sounded quieter than usual, and fingers shaking about so much it caused her speech to stutter. Unbeknownst to the trio, customers were peeking from behind various shelves and piles of canned food, watching silently as the large knight appeared to be whispering something with his eyes closed.

"One, two, three…" He began to count out loud, finding it more effective than in his head for ridding of the urge to punch anything and everything in sight.

"Four, five, six…" Sona allowed her previously tightly shut eyes to open, becoming confused when the red lights from inside Mordekaiser's helmet had disappeared.

"Seven, eight, nine…" Everything around them had fallen silent, besides the purple girl still sobbing slightly.

"Ten." Mordekaiser opened his eyes. They awoke to two very startled, very frightened faces eyeing him carefully, both at a much smaller height then his own. The master of metal sighed. The maven would own him one after this.

"Fine." Sona's eyes lit up brightly as the idle chatter began to rise up from the supermarket once more, previous scene forgotten. "What does it look like?"

"Uhh", the girl hesitated, thumb sticking in her mouth, "It's got two legs, two arms, two eyes-"

"I know what a bear looks like, imbecile!" He shouted, not noticing the child's fearful eyes and recoiling from the shock of being yelled at. "What _specifically_?" After not getting a response for some time, the knight began to doubt that she even knew how to spell the word specifically. Sona seemed to pluck a string so quietly that Mordekaiser couldn't hear it, but the child seemed to jump with an idea.

"It's brown." She beamed, and Mordekaiser noted how quickly the female species seemed to undergo mood changes. Then again, he was also aware that his anger could come up quicker than most.

"Stay here." He ordered to both Sona and the little girl, not sure which one of them was more likely to run off somewhere. After the maven's previous actions, he wouldn't put it past Sona. Satisfied with the enthusiastic nods he received in return, Mordekaiser turned the corner and left. His teeth still hurt slightly from clenching them so hard and so often, but that was the least of his worries right now. What worried him was what those two idiots would do without his supervision. It turned out that being so awesome also came with drawbacks, apparently.

The bear was literally a few paces away from where they'd been. It was sitting on the cashier's desk, drooping against a wall.

Problem: There was a queue.

Solution: Remove queue. A dozen or so helpless bodies were knocked to floor like bowling pins by the giant as he made his way to which ever unfortunate individual had chosen this time of day to be their shift. Needless to say, when a very unhappy looking eight foot, metal giant storms towards you with eyes blazing like a bonfire, you would probably be scared too. Unless you were Mordekaiser, which you probably aren't.

"How much?" He snarled, pointing to the small bear propped up on one leg. When he received no answer, the master of metal leaned in closer, hands on the desk and crushing the wood in his monstrous grip.

"How about we make a deal? I'll take it, and you can keep your life. Does that sound fair?" There was still no response, only his wide eyed expression and shaking hands of the poor human, who looked as if he were seeing a ghost. In reality, he was seeing a whole lot worse. Taking that as answer enough, Mordekaiser plucked the small item from its sitting place. He prayed that his two new 'friends' hadn't betrayed their word.

And so, the master of metal was almost relieved to find the two familiar figures sitting down, doing who knows what.

"Can I try playing it?" The purple girl asked, face brimming with curiosity. Sona nodded, and as the child fiddled with some of the strings, her expression became delighted as she giggled at the unfamiliar noise.

"Here." She looked up at Mordekaiser, whose look seemed slightly less menacing than from their first encounter. Her gaze however, immediately went to the tiny brown creature than his gargantuan hand contained which she took greedily and clung to like a life line.

"Tibbers!" She squealed, happy to see her furry little friend again. Sona smiled gently at the sight, and then turned to Mordekaiser. He seemed ever so slightly weary, and looked to the door as if to say '_let's go'. _She nodded, already a little guilty for the trouble the maven seemed to have caused him already.

As the iron man left, he heard the same voice call out to him again.

"Mister, mister!" It wailed. Mordekaiser turned only his head, giving the child one of his signature death glares. She didn't seem to notice though.

"My name's Annie, mister! What's yours?"

"Mordekaiser" he grunted.

"Mordy-kun!"

"No, Mordekaiser!" The child put her hands on her hips, giving a thoughtful pose before speaking out again.

"Mordykaiser-kun?" Deciding that he was getting nowhere, and that he didn't care whatsoever about how a strange child pronounced his name, he continued to drag Sona out of the store. She thought to mention that they had forgotten to pay for the rest of the food, but then reconsidered. The grip on her wrist was already too tight as it was, and she wasn't even sure whether a Lord of the Shadow Isles even paid for food in the first place.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Sona sagged behind a little, still wondering if maybe she should have left the whole 'bear' incident behind. Even though she did help Annie, it seemed to make Mordekaiser very unhappy, for reasons unknown to her. Was it that he hated helping people, or did he hate the fact it made him look slightly less intimidating? Perhaps reputation was a very important thing in the Shadow Isles. _I wonder if he hates me now… _She thought solemnly to herself.

The two also entered the house in silence, when Sona had decided this had gone on long enough.

"L-Lord Mordekaiser!" The iron man stopped walking, but stayed with his back to the maven. Sona wasn't sure what she wanted to say, or what she should say, but knew that she needed to say something.

"I am sorry for… for troubling you like this. I did not mean to make you angry, I just wanted to help." Her lip trembled slightly at the prospect of Mordekaiser hating her. Not because she was scared of him (although she was still), but because she found him to be more interesting than any Demacian she had ever met. There were so many questions she wanted answered, it wouldn't do to have them all float around in her head for the rest of her life. However short it may be, depending on when she ticked Mordekaiser off enough.

"You are forgiven." She heard him grumble whilst turning around, which sent a wave of relief washing over the maven of strings. "But next time I tell you to do something, you do it without question. Is that understood?" Sona nodded her head, just happy that the two were still able to get along. She might have said something else, but her stomach beat her to it. She again hid her face in embarrassment, not aware that Mordekaiser was already going somewhere else.

"Here." Sona glanced at… What was that thing in his hand? It looked a little like bread with some sort of white powder all over it, and shaped completely round. When she gave Mordekaiser a confused look, he frowned.

"Do you not like doughnuts?" _A doughnut? What was in one of those? _Sona didn't think the idea of bread and nuts appealed to her very much, but when Mordekaiser ripped it into two halves, her mouth made an 'O' shape. There was jam in it, and a lot of it, too.

"Do you want it or not?" The knight asked her through a muffled voice, mouth stuffed with food. Slowly, Sona took the shredded 'doughnut' from his hand, weighed it around in her hands a little, and then plopped in her mouth. _It's sweet! _She noticed instantly, and found herself almost savouring the taste of what must have been a gourmet delicacy, or how else could it taste so good? Mordekaiser eyed his guest suspiciously, still not quite sure what to do with her. Today had been… interesting. Although some parts had been more annoying than others, it was mildly interesting to have someone else around for company. _Slightly._ Whether the iron man preferred it to being alone, he wasn't exactly sure. It didn't seem like he had a choice in the matter right now, sadly.

"That seems like enough shenanigans for one day." Mordekaiser yawned, not used to so much frolicking about with people that weren't himself. "I trust you can find your own way to your room?" Sona nodded, and though he didn't entirely believe her, he was too exhausted to complain.

"Later." And with that, he was gone from view. Sona stood, still mesmerized for a little longer, until she shook herself out of it. She eventually found her room after a few minutes spent exploring (it turned out she hadn't remembered after all), and plonked herself down on the bed without a second thought. Unlike every other room in the mansion of a house, this one seemed to have a more homely atmosphere to it. The carpet was fresh, the walls painted brightly, and the ceiling was entirely made of glass, allowing Sona to stare into the night sky from her bed.

The maven couldn't stop thinking about Mordekaiser. She had very jumbled up feelings about him. If you looked on the one hand, he seemed very dangerous. He was a Lord of the Shadow Isles out of all things, and it didn't seem like he showed restraint to violence very often. Not to mention all of the things Sir Garen had told her about. But then, there was a little bit of a lighter side to him, as Sona thought there was with everyone (and was determined to find more of within Mordekaiser). Instead of treating her like a hostage, the metal giant treated her like a regular human being instead. He had fed her when she was hungry, introduced a magnificent new snack to her, and above all, surprisingly listened to the maven's request for helping the young girl, Annie. What had made him do that?

_I wonder, _she thought to herself, _whether we could get along just as two people, rather than captor as hostage. _Sona snuggled herself into the oddly soft covers, falling asleep as quickly as the whole day had passed her.

_That would be nice… To be Lord Mordekaiser's friend._

**What are your thoughts? Plz review, I'm sure you're aware of how much it can motivate an author ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi. First of all, I suck. I really, really, REALLY suck. Like, I left you guys hanging just because of a little bit of school work and memory loss, which is so sucky of me. The next chapter will not be so long, I swear. pls dnt h8 me :s**

Mordekaiser opened his eyes. The metal knight stretched out his limbs tiredly, letting a yawn escape him whilst slowly pulling on the covers to heave himself up. The bed, as you would guess from Mordekaiser, was made of... Surprisingly normal materials instead of metal. Whilst the hard, shiny substance was his favourite, and proved to be useful in many aspects, being comfortable to sleep on just wasn't one of them. It was for this reason that he slept on a regular bed, albeit one much larger than normal, as well as being coloured completely silver to at least _look_ like metal. However comfortable the bed may have been, the iron man wondered why he had actually gotten a good night's sleep for once. Having a rather unrelaxed personality, he tended to find that the act of staying still in one spot for a long period of time simply didn't agree with him, and thus he normally missed out on the suggested eight hours a day. So what had been different this time? And it was at that moment that his semiconscious brain managed to draw up the events of yesterday's fiasco.

"So that _wasn't_ just a nightmare..." The master of metal groaned aloud, slapping a free hand over his helmet in frustration. Which meant that he still had that annoying pest to deal with until The Shadow Isles got its act together. A though that particularly stuck in his mind was the girl's disobedient actions only hours ago, which barely left Mordekaiser's short fuse intact. He could probably manage with some annoying behaviour for the time being, but going against his orders when HE was the one supposedly in charge simply wouldn't do. Mordekaiser presumed he would need to make up for the little misunderstanding in their relationship before it was too late.

Wondering what compelled him to wake up at such an early hour (it was only around 9am, half a dozen hours before his usual rising time), Mordekaiser headed out of his room to find something to eat. The strenuous activity of recent events really brought up quite the appetite. Just as he was wondering whether to make himself a bowl of Coco Pops or not (chocolate cereal was a close second to meat in terms of its taste), he heard some sizzling in the distance.

_that's odd... I wonder what makes that sort of noise?_ Mordekaiser strolled over to the source of the noise to find a familiar, blue haired maven who was somewhat startled by his sudden appearance.

"G-Good morning, Lord Mordekaiser!" She managed to get out eventually, fumbling between a few bubbling pans to reach for her etwahl. The master of metal have her a brief nod, examining the various equipment Sona seemed to have laid out everywhere.

"What exactly is it you are doing?" Sona frowned as if it were an obvious question, though she changed it to a weak smile after noticing Mordekaiser's positively unamused expression.

"It's just that, I didn't know exactly when you would wake up, Lord Mordekaiser. I thought maybe I would make some breakfast, in case you were hungry..." The maven of strings trailed off from her sentence to glance at the large champion, who appeared to contemplating something. He was in fact wondering how Sona knew how to operate all of these alien devices that he had installed, where in truth, the only one he was sure of how to use was the microwave.

"And you claim that this is what people normally eat?" Mordekaiser inquired, not too surprised that he didn't recognise a lot of what the Demacian girl was cooking. Her choice in food had started to interest him a little.

"Perhaps it does not fit in with the Shadow Isles?" Sona asked worriedly. Mordekaiser had no idea what other people are in general, whether they were one or one thousand miles from him. He did, however, know that wasting food was not to be tolerated whilst he was around.

"I'm sure it will do fine, whatever it is." The iron man replied, glancing suspiciously both at Sona and what she called 'food'. It did seem rather unusual for her to prepare breakfast for him (an action which he would not have mimicked), but also considering that she had no idea when he would get up. _Then again _, the master if metal thought as he took a seat, _I am not the most charitable of people. And maybe this meal would do just as well cold as it would warm_ .

When he was presented with the meal, he instantly spotted an error that the maven had made. A textbook mistake that Mordekaiser avoided in his sleep.

"Woman." Sona was a little startled by her new 'title', yet did her best to please the master of metal.

"What is it you require, Lord Mordekaiser?"

"I do not _require_ anything." He replied, rather unused to such a polite vocabulary. "I just don't understand why you would make this." He continued, picking up a yellow and white piece of something or other, leaving the greasy object dangling in his fingers.

"You do not like egg? You don't have to eat it of you don't want-"

"I have no qualms with egg." The iron man grumbled, glaring at the substance in hoped it would grow into an animal in front of his eyes. It did not. "But this could have been chicken - as in meat - which is the best of all foods." Sona looked very confused, and rightly so. Of course, the maven was aware of how an egg worked. What would be more helpful, was if she knew how a Mordekaiser worked. He seemed to be glaring through his helmet at her, as if the maven should have realised her mistake. What she did not realise, was this was just how the iron man looked at people normally, though he did also happen to glare at people a lot by coincidence. It was rather difficult to learn the many ways of Mordekaiser culture.

"I am sorry, Lord Mordekaiser. I shan't make such a mistake again." It took the iron man's brain a little while to process the maven's way of speaking. Yet another strange habit of the Demacians, apparently. A few minutes passed, Mordekaiser eating what turned out not to be so horrible food despite the lack of chicken, and Sona watched with a sense of unease.

"If I may ask", Sona played her strings shyly, eyes on the master of metal rather than her instrument as she spoke, "where is it that we will be going today?" Mordekaiser froze. His eyes narrowed as they reached a certain maven of strings, confused as though he had missed something.

"We were outside yesterday." He reminded her slowly, checking both of them were on the same page. Sona seemed to wince slightly at the change of tone. Mordekaiser had seemed a lot happier (if that was even the right word to use when talking about the iron man) when they were talking about food. Sona nodded her head politely.

"Are you trying to tell me..." Mordekaiser grumbled at a malicious sounding tone of voice, "that in Demacia, people go outside every DAY?"

"I believe that is what people do everywhere... Unless I am mistaken, Lord Mordekaiser." She hesitated, and then added, "Perhaps you are not accustomed to leaving the premises so often?" The Lord of the Shadow Isles visibly fought off a violent headache, that he had gained from not only listening to the ghastly way in which Sona seemed to speak, but also that another idea had dawned on him. If he knew about hostages that were not to be killed, which he didn't, then he knew that they had to be entertained. Which apparently, meant going outside. Every day. And outside was full of people. Oh those disgusting, pathetic, squishy little things that insisted on making a racket and annoying the steel knight to no end. Those things, he did not like.

Sona eyed her new companion rather worriedly. For a while now, Mordekaiser seemed to just stare off into no direction in particular, eyes glaring and fist clenched firmly into place. Had she gone over the line? The maven had been told she was to be an 'honoured guest', though maybe that meant something different away from Demacia? Garen had always told her about the different interlocking parts of her hometown speaking different languages, when they lived mere minutes off of each other. At any rate, Sona felt as if she needed to relinquish the silence surrounding them both, for one reason or another.

"I thought, if I am to stay here a while... Would it not be convenient for me to know my way around?"

"I believe you misunderstand." Mordekaiser informed her, currently rearranging toast crusts to try and resemble a familiar helmet. "We are not in Demacia. There aren't just plump little museums you can go and waltz into. The closest you'll get to an attraction is..." Mordekaiser tried to deliberately think of something absolutely no one would like to see.

"A lake with no reflection." The iron man had presumed someone as bright as the maven would not be bothered by such a pointless concept. It was proven there and then that he had no knowledge of what others thought whatsoever.

"That seems even better than any museum I've been to before." Sona said, thinking her interest in the Shadow Isles would possibly cheer him up a little. The unnerving glare she received in response told her otherwise.

"Here we are. As promised, it is a lake. That indeed, has no reflection." Mordekaiser grunted out each word like it were an extraordinary effort on his part.

"It is... As you described." Sona remarked, gazing out upon the vast waters. Besides the surrounding fog, forestry and strange noises that on Sona's part took a lot of effort not to grip Mordekaiser's arm for comfort, the lake looked and appeared normal. When Sona had peered down to inspect the murky waters, however, only the same dull shade of blue stared back. There was no second Sona.

"How does it all work?" The maven asked as she jumped in and out of view, trying to catch the water by surprise in hopes that it might forget not to present a reflection. The iron man huffed as if it should have been obvious.

"It's not actually water." When Sona gave him a blank look, the knight assumed she would need further explanation. "There's just an algae on the surface that shares a similar colour to water covering it. Hence no reflection."

"Why does no one just remove it?" Sona plucked her strings, wondering secretly if she could take some of this stuff back to Demacia. Sir Garen would surely know what it was. She was snapped out of her own thoughts when Mordekaiser went to go and get something, before chucking said object into the water. She was mildly startled to see the moment that the rock had hit the surface, algae had regrown over the gap.

"It easily regenerates. Taking the whole layer off is too difficult to bother with." If Sona were as bored as Mordekaiser right now, she was certainly hiding it. Where did all that curiously come from? It was if the maven were the one to neglect going outside, for even when they walked back, she would constantly bend down to examine something else. Which only made the whole ordeal longer, and made the master of metal more annoyed. Just as they were finally about to end the whole thing, Mordekaiser froze in place.

"Lord Mordekaiser, what is it you have-"

"Shh. Walk this way and don't look back. Now." Rather than being able to choose which direction to go in, the iron Lord roughly took her wrist and set off away from... Whatever it was.

"I-is it a monster?" Sona whispered, being quite afraid of something that would scare even Mordekaiser.

"Much worse." He replied, taking an extra look over his shoulder. He noticeably grimaced before quickening their pace.

Meanwhile, a certain figure galloped (literally) unknowingly in the direction of his 'prey', humming a very non-intimidating tune as he went. Hooves clacked and clicked lightly against the ground, trudging up small trails of dust as the centaur went.

"I wonder, I wonder, what would a Hecarim do on a Sunday afternoon..." He continued to hum. "I wonder if Thresh is still mad at me for releasing all his prisoners. It was his fault for leaving that giant red button sitting there, waiting to be pressed... What kind of a chain warden has all their cells controlled by one button anyway?" The centaur pouted as best as he could, until a sound of very familiar and unmistakable footsteps caught his ear.

"Could that be...? It is, it is! Hey, Mordekaiser old buddy! Heyyyyy!" The shadow of war called out cheerfully, waving a hoof out whole heartedly despite having arms to use for just a purpose. Mordekaiser dragged an armoured hand over his face, wishing the torture would just relieve him and kill the knight off now.

"Oh man!" The centaur huffed, not used to such exercise as catching Mordekaiser up who apparently hadn't heard him (or tried to escape), "Fancy meeting you here! I haven't seen you outside since, since... Well, forever!"

And for good reason, Hecarim." Mordekaiser glowered at the horse hybrid, the fact he couldn't see his dwindling temper only annoying the master of metal more.

"And who, might I ask, is this lovely young lady?" Hecarim chirped, giving a slight whistle that the iron man did not approve of. "Is she your girlfr-" the centaur had to cough up some air as Mordekaiser wasted no time slugging him in the stomach before the sentence could be finished. He then turned to Sona, who luckily was spared by her large amount of ignorance.

"Excuse me, are you alright?" The maven of strings asked, ever so slightly concerned that receiving violence from the Lord of the Shadow Isles was not as fun as it looked. Hecarim nodded, but didn't seem so convinced.

"Maybe you are a friend of Lord Mordekaiser?" She continued, only to be startled as Hecarim used a long arm to whip her around into a whisper.

"Shh! You can't just spring the f-word up around Mordekaiser like that!"

"But i didn't say-"

"Not THE f-word, I mean the F-R-I-E-N-D word! Use acquaintance if you must, but old grumpy face here just doesn't take kindly to those words!" Sona gave him a disbelieving look, and then turned to Mordekaiser. Somehow, that idea seemed to make sense, in the twisted sort of way that Mordekaiser managed to make sense of things.

"I shall do my best to refrain from saying such things in the future, sir Hecarim."

"Sir?" He laughed, startling the maven with a friendly pat on the back. "Hecarim's just fine for me. Hecarim, Hec, Hector, whatever floats your boat."

"I shall do that then, Hecarim." She bowed lightly, and the centaur sighed as he realised this was a girl who did not let formalities slip by. Still, it didn't feel all so bad being treated nicely.

"So anyways, Morde", Hecarim gestured to him as the three started walking together, "if you guys aren't doing the hokey pokey, then what are doing? You play bingo together or something?"

"Not that it's any of your business", the master of metal growled, "but she is with me on official terms. I am told by the Ruined King to keep her out of harm's way until international conflicts are settled. That is all." Hecarim looked to Sona, half hoping there was more to the story than that, and so was dispirited to find nothing more had occurred when she gracefully nodded.

"The King only seems to call you..." Hecarim mumbled quietly. "You've always been his favourite, never me!"

"It's nothing to brag about." Mordekaiser grumbled, secretly wishing that Hecarim had been stuck with his boring job, so the warlord could get back to what he did best: doing absolutely nothing.

"But now you're here Morde, how ya doin'? Me and Thresh thought you'd died or something, we hadn't seen you for so long."

"Well I'm alive. So sorry to disappoint."

"Nah, it's all good." Hecarim smiled, trying to wrap an arm around the taller Shadow Isles denizen. It was knocked off in an instant, but Hecarim remained smug anyway. "So, what do you wanna do first?" Mordekaiser cringed at the sentence he had been dreading to hear.

"Actually, we were just leaving." The iron man stated flatly, giving Sona a tug and an 'agree with me or die' sort of look. Even coming from Demacia, she could guess the gist of what he meant.

"Lord Mordekaiser tells me that there isn't a lot to see here. So I'm afraid we'll have to decline."

"Nothing to see here!? Come on, this is the Shadow Isles were talking about!" Hecarim wailed, waving arms around wildly like Sona had doomed the whole world. She hadn't, of course. She hadn't noticed the silent death threats Mordekaiser had been making to the centaur behind her back either.

"As I said, we were just going." The master of metal restated his claim, trying to move back in front of Sona before Hecarim blocked his path.

"Well, she wants to go? Right Sona?" The maven uneasily looked between the two Shadow Isles denizens. Used to living a life of comfort and simplicity, she'd never encountered a situation where she couldn't please everyone. At first, the Demacian thought about going on Hecarim's side, because she really was interested in the Shadow Isles, despite Mordekaiser's disagreement. But then she didn't want to disappoint Lord Mordekaiser either. Especially after what had happened yesterday, she felt that maybe he was annoyed with her, considering he had wanted to stay inside anyway. There must be a solution where both people could be happy...

"Then, perhaps I could go with Hecarim whilst you returned home, Lord Mordekaiser?" There, that would be it. Hecarim would be able to go out and do what he wanted (as would Sona), and Mordekaiser wouldn't have to 'endure' any of the tedious behaviour he didn't want to. That would be certain to please both-

"Huh? But it won't be any fun without Morde!" Hecarim whined in a very un-Shadow-Isles-y manner.

"There is no way on Runeterra that I can trust you two to go together." Mordekaiser grumbled, looking as if he were trying to decide who was more deserving of his glare. Apparently, Sona was the ringleader in this operation, and she didn't feel too safe with someone nearly twice her size eyeing her in such a way.

"But surely, you would be able to trust one of your friends, Lord Mordekaiser?"

"I do not have _friends_" he spat violently, hands itching to whip out his mace and smash something to relieve some anger, "and if I did, Hecarim would not be on the list."

"Whaaaat?!" The centaur squeaked, face heartbroken. Sona would have tried to comfort the horseman, had Mordekaiser not continued on.

"And besides", he narrowed his eyes at the maven suspiciously, "you have proven yourself to be quite the trouble maker." Sona didn't feel like pointing out she was actually solving the trouble that had occurred would make Mordekaiser much happier, and so she stayed silent. A few awkward moments passed with Hecarim quietly threatening not to invite the master of metal to his next birthday party, before said knight huffed and began trudging along in what was now a characteristic tantrum.

"Let us get this over with as quickly as possible, if you are so hellbent on raising cain." The iron champion declared, not bothering to check whether anyone followed behind him, or if he actually knew where he was going. He didn't, of course.

"Raising cain?" Hecarim raised an eyebrow instead.

"I believe", Sona began, wary of the fact that Mordekaiser would see no interest in explaining himself, "it is a synonym for making trouble."

"Are we really? What did we do?"

"You know perfectly well what you did." Mordekaiser muttered louder than he had meant to. Sona and Hecarim shared puzzled looks.

"Hey, what's the answer? What did we actually do?" Hecarim whispered in the maven's ear.

"No idea."

Over time, Sona discovered that Hecarim really wasn't someone to be feared. However terrifying he may have been in battle, the centaur seemed to be a surprisingly jolly character outside of that. He ended up telling the maven many a story about how he and Mordekaiser had gone out on adventures together in the 'good ol' days', but all they really seemed to do according to the horseman was 'kick some butt and drink some strawberry milkshakes'. Sona didn't actually know what a strawberry milkshake was, but she assumed it must have been a particularly masculine beverage.

"If I may interject, who is this Thresh person that you seem so fond of?"

"Oh yes, yes!" Hecarim said rather excitably, "I think you'd like Thresh, you know? He's kinda like me, but not really. It's funny, we met because we had similar tastes."

"Do you mean you ordered the same food, or something of the like?" Sona inquired, becoming a little befuddled when Hecarim shook his head.

"Actually, we both thought it would be pretty cool if we had our heads on fire for the rest of our lives." Sona didn't really have a correct response, so she nodded politely as though that were the sort of way you would make friends.

"Would you like to be on fire too?" Hecarim asked with somewhat genuine concern.

"As reputable as combusting may be, I'm afraid it might not fit in with Demacia."

"Ah, no worries, no worries. We were gonna get Mordekaiser in on it too, but he was too _cool_ for us, apparently."

"I never said that." Mordekaiser defended himself. "I just said that you looked fresh out of the circus, that's all." The iron man said it like that was the more kind thing to do. At least Hecarim had a firm grin on his face despite the 'compliment'.

"Speaking of the circus, here we are!" Sona and Mordekaiser both stood stock still at the place Hecarim had lead them too.

"I hate it." The iron man grumbled.

"I love it!" Hecarim wailed.

"I… Don't know what it is." Sona frowned.

'It' turned out to be a theme park of sorts. Mordekaiser was outraged that something so living and bright would actually be allowed in the Shadow Isles, and demanded to know why he had not been informed of its construction. When Hecarim informed the knight that information had been given out by email, he decided not to mention that he couldn't figure out how to start a computer.

"But it doesn't look so bad, does it?" Mordekaiser took some time to open his incredibly narrow way of thinking and take in his surroundings. There was a lot of colour, for one thing. Shades of blue, yellow, pink and green were lavished around the whole place, be it in dazzling light shows or poorly laid out paint. The whole place was laced with people a great deal more jolly that the armoured fiend, who seemed incessant on keeping inside his own comfort zone, could bare.

"And you say..." The iron man mumbled, a sense of disbelief shrouding his thoughts, "this is what other people in The Shadow Isles do for 'fun'?"

"Morde, you're really scaring me right now. How long has it actually been since you went outside?"

"That's Lord Mordekaiser to you."

"Do people actually call you that?" Hecarim raised an eyebrow as he asked.

"Sona has no trouble doing it." Hecarim looked at Sona, who seemed in all honesty totally confused about the whole thing. When she shrugged and gave an unsure smile, Hecarim decided he wasn't getting anywhere; she didn't seem to have trouble doing anything as long as it pleased someone.

"Then you have to call me Sir Hecarim."

"Why?"

"Sona does it." Mordekaiser thought in a thoughtful sort of way, trying to think of a reason why he might not have to refer to Hecarim as... That. After a few seconds, his mind clicked with a mind blowing solution. Something only someone as great as Mordekaiser could think of.

"Shut up and go back to Narnia, you dumb centaur."

Perfect.

After Hecarim had agreed to refer to the iron man as 'Lord' Mordekaiser, so long as he stopped referring to him as Mr Tunlus, the two Shadow Isles denizens and one maven of strings started to head around what Hecarim called a circus (though it was really more of a fair). The objective - aim for something all three of them would agree to do. So basically, anything Mordekaiser actually took an interest in. That proved to be a difficult task in itself, as the only thing they'd actually managed to get in half an hour was food.

"How about... Whack a Teemo?" Hecarim almost pleaded.

"I assure you, I've whacked plenty a Teemo in my day. Just seeing that stupid little face makes me nauseous."

"Then what DO you want to do?"

"I told you, I want to go home."

"Well we can't go home because-" a nearby explosion completely took the words out of the horseman's mouth. A thoroughly singed body was sent skidding across the grass, landing with a particularly loud oomph on his back. Many people turned in horror to recognise what had just transpired, as a blue haired girl called out "She's such a loser, always ready to cry!" And started to hum a little tune to herself. At this point, a normal person, such as the maven of strings, would think to vacate the area as fast as possible. This, however, is quite different from what Mordekaiser thought.

"Let's go there." He declared.

"Yeah! It looks like fun!" Hecarim chimed in, trying to haul in Sona to join them, thought she took a step back to avoid it.

"You two go ahead... I just want to check whether that woman is okay." Mordekaiser shrugged, having no clue of the demacian's intentions, giving the shadow of war a quick tug in the stall's general direction.

It was larger than it appeared from the outside. The thing must have gone on for twenty feet or so, containing a simple target at the very back. The rest of the stall was decorated with poorly drawn bombs and bullets, and a huge banner with the letters J, I, N and X in big block capitals. The girl who owned the stall didn't seem to be entirely sane. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot, skin pale as a ghost, and she seemed to wear a good deal of belts for no reason at all.

"J, i, n and x..." Hecarim mumbled to himself, hands on hips like he were really thinking about it. "What does that stand for?"

"Jinx... Stands for Jinx? Duh." The girl said, re adjusting one of the belts as if she weren't interested in the conversation at all.

"And what does Jinx mean?"

"Jinx is me."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

...

It was at this point that great socialising MLG master known as Mordekaiser, decided to put the conversation back on track.

"Why did someone fly out of here on fire?"

"They lost the game." Jinx grinned, apparently enjoying cleaning a particularly lethal chain gun, and sometimes talking to it like the weapon were alive. The master of metal was genuinely intrigued by this statement. He'd never played this sort of game.

"I want to play."

"Morde..." Hecarim whispered as close to his helmet as he could reach, "I don't think this game is entirely safe. In fact, it looks entirely painful."

"No pain no game." He mumbled back, before turning to Jinx, who was done with polishing her tools of destruction.

"How much is it? I can give you a buck, or Hecarim's unlife."

"Morde!"

"That's Lord Mordekaiser to you!" He shouted, giving the centaur a rather painful looking slap on the head.

"I'd rather have the buck." Jinx intercepted the argument before any more nonsense could spew out. Mordekaiser obliged her request, whilst Hecarim made small whining noises, both happy he got to keep his own life, and sad that what he had kept was apparently worth less than a buck to everyone. Surprisingly, the fact that Mordekaiser had bet away his life didn't seem to bother him.

"So, I just need to touch that target over there?" The iron man asked, cracking his knuckles after handing over the money. So far he failed to see how anyone could catch fire at this point. Jinx nodded vigorously, intent on having someone else participate. He shrugged, and walked nonchalantly towards his objective.

This seems incredibly boring to be a game... He thought to himself, as large strides quickly took him forward. When does the fire come in?

And that was when the fire came in. Dozens upon dozens of missiles that shouldn't have been able to fit inside the whole fair had been aimed on him whilst he wasn't looking, each probably capable of blowing up entire cities. Needless to say, Mordekaiser now knew how someone had set themselves on fire.

"Moooooooooorde!" Hecarim wailed, mourning for his friend beyond the heavy layers of smoke and ash. Tears of manliness streaked his cheeks as all Jinx could do was laugh. "Why do the bad always die young? Oh, Morde!"

"I told you..." A deep voice startled the horseman, "that's LORD MORDEKAISER FOR YOU!" Indeed, the master of metal didn't even seem slightly bothered by the fact he should have been dead. Or... More dead than he already was. Jinx made a sweet whistle as Mordekaiser smacked Hecarim around the head with the target he's managed to bring back with him, though the crazy girl could only note how his armour didn't have so much as a scratch on it.

"I need to get me some armour..." Jinx whispered, and couldn't wait to outsmart Vi and Caitlyn (some of her beeeeest friends) in their next game of cat and mouse. They were her best playmates, after all.

"Woman." Jinx looked up to find the shadow isles lord looking expectantly at her. "Where is my freaking prize?"

"Oh, right. Hold on one second." The destruction expert rummaged around behind the front desk, silently wishing it hadn't been blown up by all the ruckus, before pulling out a very unfitting stuffed bear for Mordekaiser, that barely marched up to the size of one of his gauntlets.

"Merry Christmas!" She smiled a little too much, handing over the doll to one unamused knight.

"You didn't think to get better prizes than this?" Mordekaiser asked, having the thing for moments and already feeling a slight sense of satisfaction practically pulling off the limbs one by one.

"I didn't think anyone would win." The armoured giant nodded, already familiar with how he consistently exceeded people's expectations. He was about to leave and finally be able to rid himself of this ordeal, when he felt a pull (albeit a very slight one) on his arm.

"Whoa, wait a second, big guy." She smiled sweetly, meeting the warlord's glare with an unusual amount of optimism. "Hey, don't give me that look."

"Then be quick with whatever it is you're doing. I have places to be."

"I was just wonderin', y'know, if we could trade phone numbers and stuff."

"Are you asking me on a date?" Mordekaiser asked, annoyance turning to amusement when he saw the bright red shade of Jinx's cheeks.

"No! No, no, no!" She shook her head on each 'no', sighing after the iron man seemed to get the message. "I just thought we could talk about killing, and destroying things. You know, just usual stuff. You seem like a swell guy." Mordekaiser worked through the problems. His instincts told him to say no, because he disliked people, and Jinx happened to be a person. However, it was becoming exceedingly difficult to find someone with both the same interests he had, and enjoyed the iron man's company as well. It would be wasting an opportunity to decline.

"So be it."

"And so then", Mordekaiser heard the centaur proclaim a story excitedly to a phone, presumably Thresh on the other line, "Morde just gets this chick's number out of the blue. I know right? Oh gotta go, here he is now." Hecarim gave a wide grin at his appearance, though the steel giant made nothing of it. That game had mildly been entertaining, but he secretly felt like he was forgetting something. Something very important.

"Lord Mordekaiser?" Oh. That was it. He'd forgotten a certain maven of strings. He turned to see the girl floating around aimlessly as she usually did, staring at the object the master of metal held in his hand. Mordekaiser looked at it too, and realised that it did look quite strange, having the tiny fluffy thing crushed in his gargantuan hand.

"May I ask, where is it you got that from?"

"A game." He replied, tossing and turning the thing around in his hands. Now that he thought about it, the thing would be better off in the trash. Mordekaiser certainly had no use for such things. "It's pretty useless, so I might just throw it away."

"I think it looks quite cute..." The maven mumbled, giving Mordekaiser a look he really didn't recognise. Well, there was no use in wasting something, no matter how useless it may have been.

"Here." The iron man thrust the thing into Sona's hands, without so much as a glance. He ended up missing the fond smile the maven would have given him.

"Now, can we please get out of this place? It's much too jolly for my liking."

"Hold on Mor- I mean, Lord Mordekaiser." Hecarim stopped him, pointing to the sky for some reason. "We need to go on that." Mordekaiser looked at where the horseman pointed, and his eyes genuinely lit up with excitement. Standing tall and proud, was quite possibly the largest roller coaster in all the world. It soared and twirled in the sky like a dragon, and the carts flew by at breakneck speeds.

"Is that… entirely safe?" Sona asked tentatively, knowing that the last time she had followed her Shadow Isles friends, they had not been free from danger in the slightest.

"Hope so". Hecarim said. "Would be totally awkward if we got on and it wasn't." The horseman remained silent for a moment.

"Okay, let's go."

"Wait, I'm sure this isn't such a good ide-"

"Why not." The maven of strings stared in bewilderment. Did they not see how high that thing went up? Where was the fun in spiralling down hundreds of feet, when falling off was a very real possibility? It just didn't make any sense to her. Which was why she would politely decline the offer, and make her way back-

"Sona." She jumped slightly as her name was mentioned, escaping her own thoughts to find a rather inpatient metal giant observing her, scarlet eyes locked in place.

"You're coming too."

"I-I am?" Mordekaiser rolled his eyes, then adopting a shadowy grin as an idea came to mind.

"Unless, that is, you admit the great outdoors isn't as great as you thought?" Sona suddenly found herself between a rock and a hard place. If she disagreed to that statement, then she would be forced to ride the ariel death trap, which just from looking at it made her a little queasy. But of she agreed, then the Shadow Isles Lord would take it as an excuse to stash himself away back inside again. And it was important that he didn't to the maven... For some reason. Sona wasn't actually sure why it was so important to her. Maybe it was because despite his somewhat volatile personality and very, very scary exterior, Sona found the iron man's company to be quite enjoyable. And she felt like if the maven didn't go along with some of his decisions, however strange they seemed to her, then she would lose the possibility of becoming Mordekaiser's friend.

And Sona didn't want that.

"Sure, I'll go." She smiled. She strode along confidently, which was a difficult feat considering her heart beat like a mallet on the inside, and she had a slight temptation to use the nearest restroom.

"Nice going, convincing her Morde." Hecarim laughed up at him.

"I wanted her to disagree..."

"Oh." The duo walked a little more before Hecarim added in some very important information.

"Get rekt."

Mordekaiser wasted no time in rightfully punching the centaur at square in the face.

***

It took five minutes to get to the ride. Not because there five minutes worth of people queueing up, but because that was how long it took for Mordekaiser's patience to snap and threaten everyone else's lives should he not get his way. When Sona quietly told him that maybe the bluff was a little unnecessary, he informed the maven that it wasn't a bluff. As you can imagine, that did not make her feel better.

"This had better be good, Hecarim. I'll be thoroughly disappointed if no one falls off."

"Well, I fell off a couple of times actually." The iron man actually wondered how Hecarim would be able to fit into the thing, before noticing that he just slid his hind legs to the side, taking up two seats instead of one. It looked really weird. Dismissing the image of a flattened Hecarim from his mind, Mordekaiser took a seat next to Sona, and drummed his fingers on the safety bars as he waited. Presumably, the 'fun' would start when they went on the descent, which meant he had a couple of minutes to do what he wanted. He considered what he would make for dinner, before realising he ate pretty much the same thing every day, and didn't feel like switching it up after the whole egg incident either. Sona caused the egg incident. Now that it was there, he couldn't neglect the nagging feeling that he had to think about what he was going to do with her. The maven wasn't a particular menace, and she seemed to have good intentions towards the Shadow Isles Lord at least. What bothered him was that she had managed to persuade him to do things outside his comfort zone, when none of his Shadow Isles buddies or even the Ruined King could do so. What's more, someone else from Demacia with at least half a status would be more important to take hostage, than a simple girl who floated around and played a few notes everywhere she went; why was Sona such an important figure?

Mordekaiser felt a slight tap on his shoulder. The iron man seemed to rouse a little as the roller coaster finally began moving.

"You don't have to grip the handle bars so tightly. Especially when we haven't even started moving downwards yet." Sona nodded thoroughly, but the maven's hands were still white as chalk from squeezing so hard. She also seemed to be shaking a little. Maybe she was cold from the slight rise in altitude? Some armour would probably fix that. Hue.

Seconds turned into hours for the poor Demacian maven, as she closed her eyes, not trusting herself to keep from looking down by any other means. This wasn't the kind of thing she had in mind when asking the steel warlord outside. She didn't expect him to have tastes for this sort of thing.

Finally bringing up the courage to open her eyes (they were still no where near the top apparently), and glanced around, still intent on not triggering any height related fears. Sona found slight comfort in the fact that other people were looking slightly nervous too. There were too exceptions to that rule, however. Hecarim seemed absolutely showered in delight, grinning broadly as they mounted the tracks. And Mordekaiser seemed quite... Bored. Bored! How could someone remain bored at a moment like this? He seemed to notice her uncomfortable shifting about, and raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?" Sona moved her hands in an attempt to speak, only to find she'd left her etewahl behind. She searched anywhere for a piece of paper to write on, which turned out to be unsuccessful. Losing time quickly, she turned to her steel companion, and mouthed the word 'help'. Because of how he looked at the maven, she almost thought that he understood her. It was a real let down to hear him say almost the opposite.  
>"You know that no sound comes out of your mouth, right?" And Sona sighed in defeat. It was over. She clearly wasn't getting off this ride. She would have to endure all the twists and turns that it held, and hope that it didn't twist anything inside her.<p>

"By the way, Sona." A deep voice spoke from her side. "I was joking earlier. Please don't make an effort to fall off for me." Before she could ponder any of that statement, they were off. In that moment, too many things happened at once. The maven instantly felt a sickly feeling in her stomach. She snapped her eyes shut, hands scrambling for the metal bar that would act as her safety guide for the next few gruelling minutes. Gripping it tightly, the maven couldn't help but hear the cheering and wailing over the wind that whipped her hair around like a rag doll. Other than Hecarim laughing, it was difficult to tell whether they were shouting out of excitement or fear. This went on for a while, the roller coaster performing various loops and twists, stopping at least three times only to start up again at an even faster pace. All the time, Sona clung to her metal lifeline, curling into a ball to prevent her insides making her feel any more uncomfortable.

After what quite possibly could have been years, the torment stopped. Sona still remained still for the next minute, just in case it started up again. The maven only opened her eyes once more when the 'handle bar' she held on to seemed to move. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment upon the realisation the maven had been latching to Mordekaiser's arm the whole time instead of the actual handlebar. To make matters worse, even Hecarim seemed scared of what Mordekaiser might do next. Sona never got to find out, since her gurgling stomach gave her a free pass to the nearest restroom.

"Why was she in such a hurry?" The iron man thought aloud. Scratching the back of his helmet awkwardly.

"Why do you think, Morde? What possible reason would she have for going to the toilets right now?"

"You're saying the ride was so exciting she had to relieve herself?"

"Morde", Hecarim sighed over some uncomfortable sounding retching noises, "you're such an idiot."

"That's Lord Idiot to you."

**Idk if this was as good as the first, but tell me what you think! Reviews make sure I dont forget again, haha**


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